459: Got Fiber?

Topics:

-Jerry expresses his frustration with clients at times.

-He also has difficulty chasing down customers who sign up for MSP service and do not make the time to install all of their tools.

-A good old previously mentioned marketing tool is placing a sticker on network equipment that is branded with your company contact information.

-Sam uses small asset tags with contact information that go on all devices.

-rackmount.it is an excellent custom rack mount equipment.

-One of Sam’s clients was unimpressed after his cable management work.

-Joe talks about raising his onsite rates.

-Joe has to do some convincing to get a client to get the right configuration of Synology and UniFi equipment.

-Optimum Online, a local ISP, is now providing fiber with Gigabit symmetrical speeds.

-Jerry also has fiber…

458: Interview with John O'Fallon of Maxum, Makers Of Rumpus

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Topics:

This week on Command Control Power, we are featuring a patron only show for our supporters. If you are already subscribed on Patreon, you will find this show in your private podcast feed. To sign up and get instant access to special features like this one and several other Patreon only episodes, visit us at our Patreon support page and become a patron. For our general audience, we are featuring a classic episode from our catalog of nearly 500 episodes. We hope you enjoy it.

457: In A Bit Of A Crisis

Topics:

-Joe discusses some of the new products released by Apple.

-All the latest announcements were immediately discussed in TidBITS Content Network newsletter.

-Josh Centers of TidBITS started a separate site called http://applebuyingadvice.com to help people make decisions on what products to purchase.

-Working with a long standing client where he used to be the “web master”, Joe recommends Squarespace for their updated website.

-One of Joe’s customers has a mac.com email address that did not seem to be able to receive mail any longer to anything but the new icloud.com address.

-Joe is frustrated about attempting to donate to UNICEF via Apple Music. Sam is surprised at making a live donation on air.

-Sam tries using a navigation app with some old friends with little success.

-Windows 365 is a cloud hosted version of Windows. Joe’s experience wasn’t so great.

-Dropbox issues a warning of compatibility with macOS 12.3: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/macos-12-monterey-support

-Sam issues a warning about using a configuration profile to set a password expiration on a local Mac account.

-MDM Live from Addigy get a big thumbs up from Joe.

-In looking into it, Sam sees some very interesting beta features like MDM Live and Flex Policies.

-One of Sam’s clients reaches out at odd hours of the night. This particular issue dealt with a failed upgrade attempt.

-We discuss what defines a crisis and cancellation policies.

-We take a moment to thank Nate Cinal of Scout IT for his thoughtful gifts to the crew.

456: Tipping Appreciated?

Topics:

-Joe continues discussing a saga with an historically problematic client. They continually disregard his technology recommendations. 

-Jerry has a similar previous client that attempted to re-engage with him and he declined. 

-Joe works with our sponsor, Kolide to deploy endpoint security and work directly through Slack with his client. 

-He also used Addigy to deploy the Kolide package. 

-Jerry and Joe discuss the value of the Addigy Certified Expert: https://addigy.com/training/ace-course-overview/

-Do you receive or ask for tips in our field?

455: Getting On The High Horse

Topics:

-Jerry explores Synology notifications and Joe explains how Synology removed the built in feature. Central Management System to the rescue. 
https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/feature/cms_maintenance

-One of Jerry’s clients asks for employer tracking software. He was referred to Veriato. He asks the group their opinions on such a request. 

-Sam had a couple of sketchy client situations as well. 

-Messages in the cloud - A customer of Joe’s has questions regarding this feature and specifically syncing deletions. 

-Messages attachments can create storage issues for users. 

-Recommending upgrades can backfire as in the case when Joe recommended customers upgrade to Monterey 12.2. 

-Joe found a great bit of software called Mini Wale On LAN. Grab a copy and buy Hanz a cup of coffee:  https://www.tweaking4all.com

454: IT Essential Oils

Topics:

-Sam has finally filled the position at HCS CT!

-Jerry asks about Non-compete and NDA agreements.

-There is a cost to onboard a new employee and it is a risk you take in order to grow.

-One of Joe’s clients delays the move to a new server….again.

-This same client has been taking advice from other sources and it has strained the relationship.

-He has also explored a fee for working with clients that don’t include him in their technology decisions.

-Joe & Sam has some stories to share that are for our Patreon only feeds.

-As Sam has been dealing with Zoom latency issues at a particular network, he discovers Ubiquiti Smart Queues

-Dealing with VPNs, different subnets, and traffic, Joe gathers some good advice from Mike Kingsley and this handy command: sudo networksetup -setadditionalroutes

-This is a good alternative to “Send All Traffic”, which could inadvertently lead to unrelated traffic flowing through the VPN connection.

-Since Joe hijacked Sam’s MacAdmins Slack post about VPN traffic, he hijacks the show to shift to his topic in his quest to resolve an ongoing issue with Ubiquiti and SonicWall site to site VPN.